EnviTec Biogas, a German biogas producer, is expanding its operations to the US market by leveraging its expertise in anaerobic digestion of poultry manure. The company has been utilizing chicken manure to produce biogas, renewable natural gas (RNG), and bio-Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) in Germany for 23 years.
According to Timothy Logan, president of EnviTec Biogas Construction, the market for profitable utilization of chicken manure in biogas and gas upgrading plants is underdeveloped in the US. Logan notes that chicken manure is a valuable fertilizer in its unprocessed state, which has resulted in less exploration of treatment via anaerobic digestion (AD).
However, EnviTec Biogas sees significant market potential in the US, with over 30 million tons of broiler and layer manure generated each year. This equates to a potential of over 400 million British thermal units (mmBtu) per day, which equals the heating demand of approximately 3.7 million homes.
In the US, EnviTec Biogas plans to utilize its expertise in processing chicken manure through AD to create multiple revenue streams, including biogas, RNG, and bio-LNG. The company’s innovative integration of ammonia stripping technology has the potential to create an additional revenue stream of ammonium sulfate.
EnviTec Biogas has already acquired a large-scale biogas plant in Güstrow, Germany, which processes over 110,000 tons of chicken litter feedstock annually. The resultant biogas is upgraded to RNG and compressed to LNG at the facility, with CO2-rich off-gas refined and condensed into liquefied CO2 (LCO2).
The company plans to leverage its experience to support the developing chicken manure-to-AD industry in the US, with multiple projects already in the planning stages.
